Closure for a container



April 22, 1969 R. F. HENDRICKSON 3,

CLOSURE FOR A CONTAINER I Filed Feb. 12. 1968 INVENTORS 2 I 3 film 4K0 F A 'A 0KICKSOI/ P use/0 V. x706- United States Patent 3,439,830 CLOSURE FOR A CONTAINER Richard F. Hendrickson, Erie, and Roderick V. King, Girard, Pa., assignors to Sterling Seal Company, Erie, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Filed Feb. 12, 1968, Ser. No. 704,886 Int. Cl. B65d 41/16, 41/62, 51/18 US. Cl. 220-27 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A cap for an aerosol can or the like is disclosed. The cap has an upper cup-like part with a closed end and a lower cup-like part having its upper end received in the open end of the upper part. An opening is formed in the upper closed end of the lower cup-like part. The area around the opening being curved to form a lip adapted to snap under a sharp edge on a mounting cup of a can to lock the cap to the mounting cup of the can.

The invention disclosed herein is a cap for use in combination with an aerosol can or the like. The flange or bottom portion of the cap is made with a lipped center hole to lock onto a sharp edge of the mounting cup. The skirt portion has a recess just below the top radius. This recess is used for holding the top half of the cap. In one embodiment of the invention, the flange is threaded to accept a threaded top half thereby making the top reusable. This portion of the cap is a permanent part of the container.

The top may be held to the flange by spinning or welding to make the cap tamperproof, whereby the top half would have to be broken off. The top half could be threaded onto the bottom half to make the cap reusable. Another method would be to provide a tearoif band to make it tamperproof. The top can be glued onto the bottom half whereby breaking the glue would render it tamperproof. The flanged part could be curled inward to lock onto the container.

It is, accordingly, an object of the invention to provide an improved aerosol cap.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved combination aerosol cap and can.

Another object of the invention is to provide an aerosol cap made of two nested cuplike portions wherein the bottom of the lower cuplike portion has an opening that receives the portion of an aerosol can above the breast thereon.

With the above and other objects in view, the present invention consists of the combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawing and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the form, size, proportions, and minor details of construction without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross sectional view of an aerosol cap according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 of another embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 3, 4, and 5 are views similar to FIGS. 1 and 2 of yet another embodiment of the invention; and

FIGS. 6 and 7 are partial views of other embodiments of the invention. I

Now with more particular reference to the drawings and to FIG. 1, the cap shown is made up of an upper cuplike portion 10 and a lower cuplike portion 14. The upper cuplike portion has a skirt 23 open at its lower end 3,439,830 Patented Apr. 22, 1969 and terminating in an open end that receives the reduced size upper end 11 of the lower cuplike portion. The upper cuplike portion has an integral closed end 22. The skirt of the upper portion is scored at 12 so that the portion of the skirt below the scored line 12 can be permanently fixed to the reduced size portion 11 of the lower cuplike portion. A band 13 may be tightly formed around the skirt and fixed thereto so that it may be torn away to render the cap tamperproof. The closed end 18 of the lower cuplike portion has an opening 19 therein and the material of the closed end around the opening is turned upward and outward at 17 to form a lip. This lip will underlie the sharp edge 20 since the diameter of the opening 19 is slightly less than the outer diameter of the curl 16, thus, the closed end 18 of the lower cuplike portion will rest on the upper end of the breast of the can.

The lower end of the skirt 25 of the lower cuplike portion may be curled (rolled) in at 26 and underlie the overhanging portion 27 of the breast 15 of the can, which portion of the breast may overlie the spun-in portion of the breast.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 2, the upper cuplike portion 110, the closed end 122, with the lower diameter of the depending skirt, which receives a reduced diameter portion of the lower cuplike portion 114, is shown. The reduced diameter portion is formed as indicated at 113.

The closed end 118 of the lower cuplike portion has the outwardly spun portion 117 which forms a lip and underlies the sharp edge of the curl 116 of the aerosol can. The open end of the lower cuplike portion 114 may overlie the lip of the can or it could be formed by way of a curl as indicated at in FIG. 6 to underlie the overhanging portion of a breast of a can.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 3, the aerosol cap is shown as having an upper cuplike portion 210 with a closed end 222. The lower open end of the skirt of the upper cuplike portion is threaded as shown,

and this thread engages a thread on the upper cuplike portion whereby the upper cuplike portion and lower cuplike portion may be attached together. The lower cuplike portion is indicated at 214 and it may be curled in as indicated at 212 in FIG. 7, or it could be straight down as indicated at 220. A tear strip 213 in the form of a band is formed around the outside of the lower end of the cap The closed end 218 of the lower cuplike portion has an opening at the center thereof defined by a spun-out rim 219. This rim 219 underlies a lip formed on the can so that the curled spun-back portion rests between the breast 215 of the can and the lip.

FIG. 4 shows how the lower skirt 114 can overlie a can side such as indicated schematically at 124.

FIG. 5 shows how the curled portion 310 of the cap can underlie a groove 315 in the side 314 of a can just below the edge of the breast 316.

The foregoing specification sets forth the invention in its preferred practical forms but the structure shown is capable of modification within a range of equivalents without departing from the invetion which is to be understood is broadly novel as is commensurate with the appended claims.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: i

1. A cap for use on an aerosol can or the like comprising:

an upper cuplike part having a closed end and a skirt terminating in an open end,

a lower cuplike part having an open end and a closed end,

said closed end having an opening therein,

said closed end being received in said open end of said upper cuplike part,

means attaching said skirt of said upper cuplike part to said lower cuplike part,

the edge portion of said closed end of said lower cuplike part defining said opening being curved toward said closed end of said upper cuplike part forming a lip,

said lip being adapted to engage a sharp edge of a mounting cup and to lock on said mounting cup.

2. The cap recited in claim 1 in combination with an aerosol can having a mounting cup at its upper end:

said mounting cup being defined by a generally hollow cylindrical part curved outwardly, then downwardly, and terminating in a downwardly disposed sharp edge,

said lip being disposed below and engaging said sharp edge whereby said cap is held on said can.

3. The cap recited in claim 1 wherein said means attaching said skirt to said lower portion comprises a recess:

said recess being defined by said outer periphery of said closed end being formed inwardly, and upwardly, forming a reduced diameter portion received in said open end of said upper cuplike portion.

4. The cap recited in claim 3 wherein said skirt is attached to said reduced diameter potrion by means of glue, spin weld, friction fit, or other suitable means.

5. The cap recited in claim 1 wherein said upper cuplike part is made of transparent plastic material.

6. The cap recited in claim 4 wherein said reduced diameter portion and said skirt have threads thereon and said threads comprise said means attaching said skirt to said reduced diameter portion.

7. The cap recited in claim 2 wherein the lower part of said reduced diameter portion is a permanent part of said can.

8. The cap recited in claim 1 wherein said skirt has a scored line around it adjacent the said open end whereby said upper portion can be broken off from said lower portion thereby rendering said cap tamperproof.

9. The cap recited in claim 8 wherein a tear-ofi. strip is disposed around said skirt and fixed thereto,

said tear-off strip overlies said scored line and is disposed in tight relation to said cap.

10. The combination recited in claim 2 wherein said open end of said lower portion is received over the chime of said can and snugly receives said can.

11. The combination recited in claim 2 wherein said can has generally cylindrical side walls which terminate at their upper end in a rim:

said can has a breast extending downwardly, then outwardly, then upwardly defining a groove,

the lower end of said lower portion being received in said groove.

12. The combination recited in claim 11 wherein an overlying portion of said breast overlies said groove:

said lower end is curled inwardly,

said curled end underlies said overlying portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1962 Finkenzeller 220-42 X 2/1966 Patton et al. 222-l82 GEORGE T. HALL, Primary Examiner. 

